A Change of Scenery
by Volcarona
Summary: Liza has been a Mossdeep City Gym Leader for six years now, and it's once again time for the annual Gym Leaders' Conference. When she gets to talking to Bugsy, the Johto Bug-type Gym Leader, she realizes that maybe there's been something missing from her life... One-shot. I don't even know what this shipping is called. LizaxBugsy, MortyxWhitney, TatexMay, etc.


**A Change of Scenery**

By Volcarona

I tossed a Poke Ball into the air, and, with a bright flash of light, my Xatu appeared.

"Zaaa…" she said, stretching her wings. I smiled at her.

"Are you ready, XsaXsa?" I asked. "It's time for the International Gym Leaders' Conference." Grumbling, I continued, "What a terrific way to spend my vacation." Xatu chuckled at me. "Whatever. C'mon, XsaXsa, we need to get to Castelia City, in the Unova region. Can you Teleport me to the Pokémon Center there?"

My Pokémon nodded and spread her wings, indicating that I should step forward. I did so,standing directly in front of my Pokemon, within its sphere of energy, and the Xatu began concentrating. "Zaaaaaaaaaaaaaa…" Her voice turned into a continuous hum, and I felt a strange tingling sensation travel across my body. Within moments, XsaXsa and I were enveloped in a bright white light.

As the light faded, I opened my eyes to a bustling city scene. I gaped up at the huge skyscrapers. "WOW," I said. "This place is WAY bigger than any city in Hoenn…or Johto…or Kanto…or Sinnoh…"

"Zahtoo," XsaXsa commented. I turned my attention back to my Pokémon, noting her awed expression. XsaXsa had been my first Pokémon, a Natu my father had given me on my and Tate's seventh birthday. I'd raised it carefully, watching its level skyrocket and applauding when Natu had evolved. She'd become an important figure in the Mossdeep Pokémon Gym, when I and her brother had become the Gym Leaders at age twelve.

Six years as a Gym Leader…

Tate had resigned as co-Leader just last year, so that he could spend more time with his girlfriend, the Hoenn League Champion May, and work toward his dream of becoming a Pokémon Professor. I had assumed all the duties of Leader, and it wore on me every day.

I shook my head to clear it, and turned back to XsaXsa. "Ready for the Conference?" I asked. Xatu nodded. "Good. Then let's head over to the Gym."

Every year, all the official Gym Leaders gathered at one of the Gyms, to discuss business—battle strategies, retiring Leaders, new Leaders, promotions to the Elite Four, things like that. This year, the Conference would be held in Burgh's Gym, the Bug-type Leader in Unova. I shuddered involuntarily—I _hate_ Bugs; with the exception of XsaXsa, they could easily overwhelm all my Psychic-types.

"Well, XsaXsa, here it is," I said as we stopped outside the Gym. The outside was kind of pretty, glistening in all different colors…I liked it. Well, I liked it until I looked closer and realized that it was supposed to look like the wings of a Bug.

Inside, I was greeted by Burgh, who hugged me enthusiastically and made comments about how big I'd gotten, and how great my Xatu looked, and how we _had_ to battle after the conference! "Oh, and here comes my friend from the Johto region, little Bugsy! Such a cute name…" Burgh giggled like a schoolgirl.

I turned and, yes, there was Bugsy—the Bug-type Gym Leader, who was only about a year or two older than I was. He and Tate were friends, but I'd never really talked with him much.

"Burgh, Liza!" The Johtonian Leader exclaimed. He was wearing a safari-type outfit, with shorts and knee-high socks. His purple shock of hair stood out in the crowd. "The conference is about to start! Do you want to sit together?"

Burgh squealed loudly and hugged Bugsy to him. "Oh, dear little Bugsy!" he said excitedly. Bugsy tried futilely to escape the older Bug Leader's clutches, pushing at his arms and chest. He looked over at me. "L-liza…!" he gasped as Burgh clutched him tighter. "Please—h-help me…He's crushing my—ribs!"

I giggled. I'd rarely talked with Bugsy, even though he was one of the few Leaders in my age group—I mean, he _was _a Bug-Type Leader. However, now that I got a good look at him…

I turned to XsaXsa. "Hey, girl, how about a little Psychic Attack?"

XsaXsa nodded, a smile in her eyes. "Zahtoooooo…!"

Burgh began to glow a purply-pink color, and he stiffened. His arms suddenly shot out to the sides, releasing Bugsy, who fell to the ground, gasping theatrically.

I reached down and grabbed Bugsy's arm, hefting him to his feet. "C'mon!" I said, pulling him along behind me. "Let's go get some good seats!"

Behind me, Bugsy laughed. Further behind me, XsaXsa released Burgh from her Psychic, and he sighed. "Oh, c'mon, you little cuties! How could you do that to me when I was just being friendly!"

As we neared the door behind which the conference was being held, I slowed down, allowing Bugsy to take the lead. He held the door open for me. "Ladies first," he said, waggling his purple eyebrows at me.

I cocked one of my own eyebrows back at him. "Then, please, enter," I teased, gesturing for him to go in ahead of me."

Bugsy laughed and entered, waiting for XsaXsa and me to follow him in before shutting the door. I turned to smile at him, before I noticed the décor.

The room was designed to look like the hive of some enormous Bug. Hexagons were the main theme, and as I peered closer, I saw that the walls were covered in—"Honey?" I asked.

Bugsy grinned. "Yes, Dear?"

I stuck my tongue out at him. He really _was _cute, now that I actually looked at him… "Not _you_. Burgh's freakish Gym. Why is there _honey _on the _walls_?

Bugsy shrugged. "Honey attracts some Bugs. I guess that's Burgh's reason—"

I shuddered, hoping that none of these Bugs would find it necessary to crawl on me.

"—but I dunno, really. Burgh's kinda—well, kind of—you know. Ecclectic, I guess." He took my elbow. "But for now, let's go get some seats—before Burgh follows us in!"

The room was full to the brim of Gym Leaders, and I even saw the Kanto Region's Elite Four sitting around a small table toward the front.

"Anywhere in particular you want to sit?" asked Bugsy. I shook my head—I wasn't very friendly with many of the other Leaders. "Okay, then, let's go sit with Morty and Whitney. It looks like it's either them or Falkner and Winona, and I seriously can_not _stand them." He muttered under his breath, "Stupid stuck-up Flying Trainers."

I giggled. "You mean you don't like them just because of the type they train? That seems kinda rude, don'tcha think?"

He shot me a glare. "You wouldn't understand. Your Pokemon are only weak against Dark-types, and there's hardly any Dark-Trainers areound."

"They're weak against a couple of others, too—like Bugs."

"Yeah, but—" he shot me a look, then smiled. "Yeah. I guess you're right. I still wanna sit by Morty and Whitney, though—Burgh doesn't like Falkner and Winona _at all_."

Laughing, we made our way over to the far right corner, where Morty and Whitney sat, cuddling and making kissy-faces at each other. It was a bit awkward, especially since I'd always thought of Morty as a standoffish kind of guy, usually hiding his emotions…

The conference this year was led by Lance, the famous Dragon Tamer from Kanto and Johto's Elite Four. We went through the usual boring stuff—new rules and regulations, a new type of training strategy that had been discovered. Then came the fun part—the old Leaders retiring, the new Leaders joining, and the swapping of regions. Hoenn hadn't had a new Leader in six years—since Tate and I had taken over the Mossdeep Gym. I'd heard a rumor that we'd be swapping someone, but I didn't know who, or if it was even true.

"And last of all, Wattson of the Mauville Gym in Hoenn has requested a trade to Johto. Are any of the Leaders against this?"

There was some murmuring amongt the Leaders, but no one objected.

"Alright. Now, the Leader who will be moved to Hoenn is still undecided. Will all Johto Leaders please step forward?"

I found myself alone at the table, and I watched as the eight Leaders gathered around Lance. There was quite a bit of whispering going on, and I felt anticipation rising up in me. A new Leader! So it was true, then! I wondered who it would be—Falkner couldn't, of course, because we already had a Flying-type Leader. Neither Morty nor Whitney would likely switch, since they were quite happy being only a town away from each other. Jasmine and Pryce were perfectly fine with where they were, as well. That left three: Clair, the Dragon Leader, the Fighting Leader (I couldn't remember his name), and Bugsy.

While I pondered this, the group had separated and now stood in a rather loose line onstage. Lance stepped forward, his cape swaying from side to side.

"The Leaders have come to a decision!" he said. "Wattson will be joining Johto as their first-ever Electric-type Gym Leader, and Bugsy will be joining Hoenn as their new Bug-type Leader!" Bugsy smiled and waved a little, a bit of his purple hair falling in front of his eyes.

I gasped as the Leaders around me began to applaude. Bugsy was coming to Hoenn? But why did he make such a decision? Why would he leave his perfect Bug-haven to come to an unknown region?

As the Johto Leaders came back to their seats to see out the last of the day's conference schedule, I looked up at Bugsy. "Why?" I asked him.

He shrugged. "A couple of reasons. One, I just needed a change of scenery, I guess."

"And the other?"

Bugsy smiled. "Tell ya later." He turned to Morty and Whitney, who wished him good luck.

"We'll all, like, so totally miss you!" said Whitney, clinging to Morty with one arm and patting Bugsy's shoulder with the other. "You're, like, such an awesome Trainer!"

"Definitely," Morty agreed. "We'll miss your prowess in Bug Pokemon, but I'm sure you'll do well in Hoenn."

After the conference had ended and we all began to head to our hotel rooms, Bugsy grabbed my arm. I turned back to him. "Liza," he said as the other Leaders pushed out around us. "Can we talk outside?"

I didn't really know what to say to that, so I just nodded.

Outside, he led me down the street a bit, away from the others. He stopped suddenly, and pivoted around to look at me. "Liza," he said. "I love you."

I gasped, coving my mouth with my hand. "You…wha-what?"

"I love you." He grasped my hands in his, a fierce look in his eyes. "You and I have a lot in common. We both took over our Gyms early, we both love our Pokemon with a passion. We both love reading, and taking hikes, and chocolate milkshakes."

"How…how do you know that?" I'd never talked to this guy, aside from a "Hello" every once in a while, until today!

"Because…I've liked you for six years now. Since I first saw you. But I couldn't approach you—you were always with your twin, Tate, and you never wanted to talk with anyone else. So I just kinda…watched you from afar." He smiled sheepishly at me.

I laughed, a bubble of concern leaving me. "So, basically, you've been stalking me since you were thirteen."

"What? No! Well, I mean…kinda…" He looked down, then back up. "Yeah. I've been stalking you. Me aand my creepy Bug-type Pokemon." He made a silly-scary face at me.

I laughed again. "Well, that's nice. I always appreciate my stalkers." I looked him in the eye. "So, is this the other reason you're coming to Hoenn?"

He nodded. "Yup. So…is that okay?"

I grinned. "Definitely. 'Cause…I really like you, too." I stood up on my tip-toes, and he leaned down. Our lips met, and we shared out=r very first kiss—the first of many more. It probably would have been the most perfect moment of my life so far—if Burgh hadn't chosen that very moment to jump on Bugsy and pull him into a bear hug.

As Bugsy flailed against the older Leader's embrace, I giggled. Well, at least not _all_ Bug-type Gym Leaders were creepy!

**AN**: Thanks for reading! :D I really wanted to make a Gym Leader love story, but I didn't want to write one about any of the grossly-overused couples (though I did mention a couple of them here). So, I made a list of _every single Gym Leader in the Pokemon world_ (so far). And then I picked out two who I thought would be good together—Bugsy and Liza. They're about the same age, both too young to be Gym Leader, in my opinion! :D Even though Liza's Pokemon would be weak against Bugsy, I thought they'd make a good couple.

Anyway, please review! :D I doubt there'll be any more for this story (at least for now—I'm still working on _A Nurse is Born! _XD ), but you never really know, huh? :D

Thanks again!

-Volcarona

(PS: Does anyone know if this shipping even _has _a name? 'cause I'd love to know what it is! XD )


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